The God
by Bread732
Summary: Two siblings, Sokka and Katara, free a young boy named Aang who was trapped in an iceberg. Aang is very mysterious, and even more so powerful. Rarely is he surprised, and even rarer is he serious. They are told that his destiny is to save the world from their war against the Fire Nation, but that seems to mean something different to him than it does to them.
1. Book 1: A New Beginning Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Though it would be cool if creators wrote fanfics more often.**

* * *

One autumn day two siblings, a boy and a girl, were lying down on an ice floe, not by choice, but because of the waterbending that the latter had released on their canoe in a fit of rage against her brother.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara." said Sokka, indicating the collapsed iceberg that was behind her.

"You mean _I_ did that?" she asked incredulously. She could barely catch a fish, much less do something like that.

Just then, another iceberg slowly floated to the surface, 12 meters high. Katara tried going forward, but Sokka held her back.

"Wait Sokka, there's someone in there!" she pointed at the bald figure lying meditatively in the ice, glowing arrows on his arms and head.

"Is he.. dead?" asked Sokka.

"I don't know.." Katara answered. Did she really have to see another body?

"I just saw him move!" did he? Wondered Sokka. Slightest movements through the ice continued, and the two noticed that the glowing arrows were gone, but their imprint had continued on the figure's skin.

"Well come on, let's help him!" before Sokka react, she had taken his club and was running over to the iceberg.

"Katara don't be- Ugh."

She struck the ice, forming a hole, and letting out a gust of wind that pushed her back next to Sokka. Cracks formed in the ice from Katara's blow, allowing the person inside to break free, and in a flash of fire, the ice had all melted, and was trickling back into the ocean.

"What was that?" The 16-year old Fire Nation prince asked himself, referring to the spark that appeared in front of him for a split second. If it's him, he thought to himself, no, it will be him, and if it isn't it will lead to his capture.

"Just the celestial lights, Prince Zuko." said his uncle, "We've been down this road before. I don't want you to get excited too much over nothing."

"Uncle, we have to set course there to see what is going on."

"Sit down. Have some tea."

"I don't need any tea! I need to find the Avatar! Helmsman, head a course for.." he struggled to indicate the place where he had seen the odd light, "Over there by that iceberg."

"Ugh... wake ups.." said the young boy from inside the iceberg as he came out of the crater, "Never that great." He was bald aside from the arrow on his head, and wore a set of yellow and orange robes. "Oh! Right. Hello there." He smiled, then seemed to pause for a second before falling over, rolling by Katara and Sokka.

Sokka held his spear cautiously, poking the boy's head with the blunt side.

"Stop it!" Katara waved the spear away. Was he okay? She propped him up against the crater, and saw him slowly open his eyes again.

"I need to ask you something..." he said lowly.

"What?"

"Please... come closer."

Curiosity had her, so she did. "What is it?"

Suddenly the weary child's face became excited and mischievous, "You guys wanna go on an adventure?"

"What? Adventure?" she was not expecting this. Who was this kid? "I don't really.. this isn't really the place for an adventure and also, who are you?"

He rose to his feet, "I'm Aang. Traveling nomad. I seem to have lost my way."

"Lost your way where?" asked Sokka, pointing his spear at him, "Where are you headed? How did you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?"

"I don't know where I was going, but I guess now I'm going with you two. As for the ice, well there was this storm, and I was practicing my airbending among other things, and lastly, I take good care to make sure I don't have to worry about being hurt by the cold."

"Wow. That was a lot of nothing you said just there." said Sokka, having gotten nothing out of that explanation, "But that's right, you are coming with us now! You've got to be working with the Fire Nation."

"Wait wait," said Katara, "Did you... say you were airbending?"

"Oh right, I'm..." he paused. And just stood there, "Well I'm a- ah- ahchoo!" he sneezed, air coming out that blasted him into the air.

"This is some kind of Midnight Sun Madness, isn't it?" asked Sokka. "I'm just gonna go sit in the crater and ponder life, alright?"

"You go do that!" said Aang, cheerily.

And Sokka let out a scream.

Aang slapped his forehead, "Oh that's sad." he ran down into the crater. "Appa!"

Inside the crater Sokka had found himself face to face with an enormous white furry animal; it had six legs, two horns, and the same arrow on its face that Aang had, except brown instead of blue.  
"What is that thing!?" he exclaimed as Aang embraced it. He was scared, and also a bit disgusted by that fact that it nearly sneezed on him.

"Appa here is my Flying Bison. An old partner."

It let out a roar.

"That's a good pal."

"Katara," Sokka peaked his head out, "Can we go home now?"

"If you need a lift, Appa can take us there." said Aang.

"Let me guess," said Sokka, sarcastically, "Flying through the sky, right?"

"Oh, Appa can swim too." said Aang, helping Katara up to the saddle.

"Come on Sokka!"

"No, no, I'll just take the normal..." he looked around to find all the ice floes gone with no boat left, "route.. Alright I'm getting in."

"So, first time flyers-"

"You mean-"

"Swimmers, right, hold on tight! Appa, yip-yip!"

The bison made a flick of its tail and lept into the air. For a second, Sokka and Katara expected it to take flight, but shortly enough they were plopped down onto the water.

"Oh, I didn't get your names, did I?"

"I'm Katara, and this is my brother Sokka."

"Um, question here." said Sokka, remembering the flying bison remark, "What exactly are we... riding on? Appa, was it?"

"He's a bison. Bison. Flying bison. Erm, Sky Bison. Platypus bear. Wait no not platypus bear. I don't really like taking care of those, they always-"

"Flying."

"Yeah. I know what you're thinking, shouldn't have been flying in a storm-"

"More like, why isn't he flying if he's a _flying_ bison? What do you have to gain by saying-"

"Well it's just a name." said Aang. There was a pause in the conversation after that.

"Why are they called that?" asked Katara, interested.

"Because they can fly." Aang responded.  
Sokka couldn't bring himself to speak.

"I'm going to bed now." said Uncle to Zuko. "Yep, a man needs his rest." He paused and decided subtlety was imperfect. "Prince Zuko, you need some sleep. Even if you're right, and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather and great-grandfather all tried and failed-"

"Because their _honor_ didn't hinge on it. Mine _does_. The coward's hundred years of hiding will end because of me." And with that their conversation was over. Zuko was going to find the Avatar, and that was that.

* * *

"Hey." said Katara to Aang, as they laid on Appa's back.

"Hey, you thinking?"

"Well, yes. You're an airbender, so I was wondering if you knew, what ever happened to the Avatar?"

"Oh that guy? Last I heard he went traveling around the world."

"Traveling during a war?" asked Sokka.

"The Avatar has to travel. An inexperienced kid can't save the world, now can he?"

"He's over a hundred years old though! Couldn't he do his.. Avatar training a bit faster?"

"He's been busy. War disrupting the nations. Other stuff."

"You sound like you know him."

"Definitely knew him. Well, I knew people that knew him. You could _kinda_ say I knew him. He was at my temple." he chuckled.

"I wish he could have fixed the world a bit sooner, if he could have!" said Sokka, angrily, "Dads going off to war, families torn apart.."

"War is one of those things that always happens." said Aang, "No need to rush."

"What?!" Katara rose from her seating position, "No need?! Countless people have died!"

"And back when... in all the past wars... those people would have died even if there wasn't one, wouldn't they? I mean.. if you want to stop a war go and do it, but don't let it destroy you."

"Think of all the things that could have been different if people didn't have to die in these wars, Aang. All the people who would have lived. All the possibilities."

For a moment, Aang didn't respond, "Possibilities... Heh. Wait, so you mean, I don't really keep up with these things, there's a war going on? I didn't hear anything (much) about that back at the temple."

Sokka sighed. "Yes. The Fire Nation decided it would be a good idea to try and take over the whole world." he paused, "And they're winning."

"I see. When did this happen? Last month?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Last... try, 100 years, Aang." said Sokka, not amused by this Airbender's lack of basic knowledge.

"Aang..." started Katara, coming to a realization, "Were you in that iceberg for over 100 years?"

All that could be heard was the sound of Appa's swimming. And then Aang spoke.

"Was I?" And then he chuckled to himself, "So.. we're going to the Water Tribe you say? Is it the North? I just love the Northern Water Tribe. Beautiful place-"

"SOUTH." said Sokka, indicating the piece of land Appa had just arrived at. He wasn't going to let his home take a beating by this stranger's standards. After all, warriors could be just as effective in a war as Waterbenders. Or else what would be the point of sending them off? "We are in the southern water tribe."

"Oh that's cool," said Aang, getting off of Appa's back, "I have some good friends in the Southern Water Tribe."

"Well you know what?" said Sokka, not liking their little chats, "They're probably dead."

"Yeah." Aang agreed.

"Sokka!" Katara whacked him on the back of the head, and took him aside "That's not what you say to someone who's been transported to the future! He must be feeling so conflicted and confused right now." The poor guy, she thought, must not have any idea where he is. Not to mention not knowing what happened to his people-

"Mr. Snowman over here?" asked Sokka, indicating Aang's full encasement in snow during her lecture. With a gust, the snow flew out in all directions, "He looks so conflicted."

"Don't be too worried Katara," said Aang, "Ice and snow always look the same."

* * *

End Chapter 1

**So what do you think? I was originally going to make the first chapter go up to them starting on their journey, but I decided I don't really like info overloaded chapters, so I'm slowing down. No idea how many chapters this'll turn out if I'm always so minimal though.**


	2. Book 1: A New Beginning Part 2

**And now we get a long chapter. I'm actually thinking I'm making this my NaNoWrimo. This and a few other projects, including Enemy. Trying to get 50,000 words of typed content out.**

**Disclaimer: And of course, this material was made using characters whom I did not invent. I will be honest.**

* * *

It was late at night, so when the three came into the village, they retired into tents and got some shut-eye (like a true child, Aang objected to being put to sleep, but eventually stated "I'll play along"). That morning, Katara went out to share the news with the village. People were surprised. And doubtful, of course. Everyone was curious to see who this strange boy that the two siblings claimed to have picked up was.

But no one more so than Katara herself. She had always wanted to be a capable waterbender, even though she had no one around to teach her. Now she had in herself the vain hope that Aang could help her. Sure, he was an airbender, but he was still the first other bender she had ever seen. Well, the first other _good_ bender she had seen.

So she sat in his tent as the morning drew to its end, waiting for the young monk to wake up. He was peaceful mostly. Imagine her surprise as his demeanor suddenly change. He started to toss and turn, at first like a troubled child, but soon enough gusts were blowing through the small piece of shelter that they were in, as he rolled and rolled. Hesitatingly, Katara tapped him to a halt, and his eyes opened, staring right at her.

"Aang, are you okay?"

His response was a moan.

"I think you just had a bad dream. But it was just a dream."

"Yeah, just a dream." he said miserably, his eyes containing a frustration that startled Katara, an emotion that seemed so.. distant from the young boy she met the day before. And then he was back, eyes lit up, smile on his face, "So how are you Katara?"

"I'm... fine. Thanks." she didn't know how to respond to him, "Um, is something the matter?"

"Well if you don't mind the whole war and unbalance in the world thing, life's just a pouch of lychee nuts."

"Well, I mean, um, Aang, how about you, are you okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, Katara." He said, and then a pause. So, I suppose you wanted to introduce me to your village?"

"Oh, right!" she said, "You sure you're ready?" Perhaps taking someone so isolated out wouldn't be so good. After all, he would probably be something of an exhibit around their village if he stayed.

But he said "Ready as I'll ever be.", and she was inclined to believe him.

They left the tent and Katara showed him to the small gathering of people that was known as their entire village. "Well, this is the village. The whole village. Whole village, Aang."

Aang bowed to them, startling a few. He paused, and decided to bow again, sending them back once more. "I wonder if I keep doing it you'll be at the North Pole and back again." he said, friendly and joking.

"Forgive us, Aang." said an old woman coming forth, "But no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you."

"Well.. glad to correct." he said, fiddling around with a wooden staff.

"Oh, and Aang," said Katara, indicating the woman, "This is our grandmother."

"Call me Gran-Gran." she said casually.

"What is this thing anyway?" Sokka asked Aang, grabbing the staff from him, "Some sort of weapon? It's got no pointy edge to-"

"Weapons don't need to stab," said Aang, pulling it away from Sokka in a motion that pushed him onto the ground, "Besides, this isn't really for fighting, it's for airbending." He made a motion and suddenly what looked like an enormous fan popped out of the staff.

The village kids gasped, "Magic trick! Do it again!" said one girl.

"Well, okay." said Aang, folding the fan in and out, "Hmm, this thing could use some adjustments..."

"So you can keep yourself cool during the summer?" remarked Sokka.

"Well, as important as it's gonna be to keep cool this summer," said Aang, "It's more of to control the air currents around me. I can even fly."

"Like Appa."

"Just like Appa." said Aang.

"Fly!" yelled one of the kids around them.

"You want me to fly?"

"Yeah!" they all exclaimed.

"Well then." he took an airbending-assisted jump,unfolded his staff and glided 40 feet up with it, "See?"

"He's flying!" "It's amazing!" The girls exclaimed as Aang did tricks in the air.

"Now let's see here," he looked speculatively at the village's watchtower, before landing right next to it, "Let's keep that up."

"Great." said Sokka, not too fond of the bending arts, or this kid's attitude, "You're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender, together you two can waste all of our time."

"Well I dunno, if we work up our skills, I'm sure we could do some pretty useful stuff."

"Useful stuff?"

"Yeah, you know, fishing, first aid, maybe some fighting in the war, that war you were talking about."

"Aang, I don't know about fighting in a war, we're just kids!" was he going to fight and get killed jut like the rest of his people, she thought to herself.  
"Well I gave two other suggestions." he said, shrugging.

"Well, anyway, I still have a long way to go." said Katara, knowing that her waterbending wasn't much use for fishing, much less participating in battle.

"Alright," said Gran-Gran, leading her granddaughter away, "No more playing Katara, you have chores to do."

"Alright." she said, and then lower to her grandmother, "I think I finally found someone to teach me how to bend."

"Katara, try not to put all of your hopes in this boy." she said calmly.

"He's so.. interesting. And an air nomad, the wisdom he must contain, the stories of the past that could.. help us today." She was excited about this. She wondered if he would stay, and felt conflicted either way. He could stay and never really fit in to their tribe, or he could leave, lost in an unfamiliar world, and risk being killed by the Fire Nation like those before him.

"Be careful where you wave that thing!" yelled Aang, muffled, as his tongue was stuck to his cold glider, "Now I can't get off. No don't, AGH."

"Again." said Uncle.

Zuko demonstrated the same technique, sending flames to his two opponents and retaliating against theirs. They dodged, and he held out his arms to attack again.

"No!" his uncle sighed, getting up, "Power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles." he demonstrated the technique without actually firebending, "The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes: fire!" Which then extended towards Zuko, but did not reach him. "Get it right this time."

But Zuko had enough of this, "I've been drilling this sequence all day! Tech me the next set! I'm _more_ than ready!" For years now this man had been teaching him and this was as far as he had gone? He felt assaulted on his honor, and challenged on the honor that was to be his.

"No, you are impatient." he sat back down, "You have yet to master the basics. Try again."

He fire kicked the testing opponent, "The sages tell us the Avatar is the last airbender."

This news did not amuse Iroh.

"It's been one hundred years, Uncle. He will have mastered all four elements, he'll be old, but intensely powerful. I need more than basic firebending if I'm going to turn him in. You _will _teach me the advanced set."

"Very well," he said, patience wearing thin, "But first," his tone changed to one of delight, "Let me finish my roast duck." and his attention was turned to his food instead of his problematic nephew.

"I gotta pee!" yelled the little boy in the group of six that Sokka had been 'training'.

"Listen," said Sokka sternly, using hand motions to attract the kids' attention, "Until your fathers return from the war, they're counting on _you_ to be the men of this tribe, and that means _no potty breaks_."

"But I really gotta go?"

"Okay," Sokka sighed, "Who else has to go?"

All hands raised, and Sokka brought his hand up to his face. The training and establishing of an efficient militia down in the tribe would not be easily accomplished. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered. Sometimes, if he really felt like doubting himself, he would wonder _whether _he bothered, or if he really was just "playing soldier" as Katara put it. But he wanted to believe that if he could instill the warrior's spirit that his father has into the minds of those children, they could have something, just something to help the right side of the war.

Seeing the airbender had an effect on him. He was an annoyance, but also something new, not just in his own experience, but new to the world. To say a twelve year old boy could stop a war was beyond the scope of Sokka's thoughts. But Sokka knew that the world was composed of four nations, and the Fire Nation had waged war against the others. For as long as he had lived there were only two left to fight. But now it was three again. And with the whole world fighting, Sokka thought, the Fire Nation couldn't last. Could it?

His thoughts were interrupted by the giggling of young water tribe warriors sliding down Appa's tail.

"What is this?! Stop this right now! We don't have time for fun and- there is a _war_ going on, and every moment counts towards making sure that this world and all that we care about makes it out alive," Sokka wondered to himself if he was being perhaps too dramatic, but continued, "Besides, that there is a living... thing, and it belongs to someone else and..."

Thankfully, Sokka's loss for words went unnoticed, as it was interrupted by a yell of "WOOHOO" coming from the hills far off, from which slid out young Aang, riding atop a penguin, and using it to fly through the air as if it were his own glider-staff. "I. AM. A. PENGUINBENDER."

"He's... kidding, right?"

Aang jumped onto the ground and caught his waddling otter-like friend with ease, before letting him (or her) waddle off, balancing his four arms. "The animals, they just love me. Sometimes. Hey Katara, I know this great sledding path you have got to try. Don't worry, there won't be any flying, it'll just be-"

"Actually, Aang, could I ask you about something?" Katara cut in.

"Sure." he said, as calm as if she could ask him anything.

"Well, first, I just.. well.. how are you adjusting?" that wasn't what Katara was getting to, but she realized that her guest had come a long way to be with them, and that he was probably very confused about his place in their world, so she had to know where they stood, "It must be tough... you must have lost so many people."

"Oh, I'm doing just fine Katara! Trust me. People come and go into your life. What you have to do is just know that they'll always be there in one way or another, and that time has its ways of filling the gaps they leave. And sometimes, it can even bring them back to you, as if they aren't even gone."

"Wow Aang, that's beautiful.." What could she say? Was this the Air Nomad philosophy? This boy showed no fear. He was amazing. At the same time he was a bit scary. He was a tragedy, an orphan of time, a lost boy with no home, and yet he showed no awareness of his situation, none of the confusion that she could definitely sense inside of him. What could he teach her? What could she teach him?

"Now let me guess," he said, "You're the only waterbender down here, aren't you?"

"Wow," she said, startled, "That's.. true. That's right."

"The way your brother talks about it.. and you have no one to teach you. So you want me to teach you, don't you?"

"Yes!" she said automatically, and then slowed down, "Well, if you don't mind.."

"I don't mind. But I don't think that's best for you either."

"Hm?"

"Well for one thing, what should I know about waterbending? A twelve year old Air nomad? Even if I could teach you though, I'm younger than you and well... you need a master. A real master. Someone from the Water Tribe who knows how to help you learn. You know what I mean?"

"I think I do.. but there's no one to teach me!"

"Well then go North! Out in the world! Have an adventure! That way, even if the teacher you came all that way to learn from turns you down, you'll still have learned, won't you?"

"Woah there!" said Katara, "There you go again! I can't just go out into a world that's in the middle of a war, you know!"

"What if you have a flying bison who can go anywhere you want?"

"Wait you mean you.."

"We can travel together, Sokka too. It'll be fun. And you know, the Avatar... I have a feeling he's gonna show himself really soon."

"Do you really think so!? Really? That would be great! .. Wow. I mean, he's a waterbender, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's an earthbender and a firebender, and why associate with those? Speaking of firebenders, I saw a ship at the back of the island. Very tempting to go inside."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't then. We're forbidden to."

"Forbidden to, you say? I knew that, I figured that. Still, can't help but feel like it's inviting me. Anyway, I'll be a good boy. Stay in my place."

And Aang did stay in place for a while, before he... just wasn't around. It was so gradual no one noticed, rather, everyone just wasn't seeing him at the time. He was off around the south pole having his airbender fun. And that's when Prince Zuko's ship came in.

Of course a big panic rang out through the tribe. Sokka and his little warriors got ready, and Katara looked around frantically, trying to find Aang, trying to make sure that he was safe. But he was nowhere to be seen.

When the ship was docked, and the firebenders made their entrance, Sokka wasted no time rushing at them with his club, before being kicked back into the snow by the commanding prince.

The prince then approached Katara and her grandmother, and said, simply, but with command and insistence in his voice, "If he's here, give him to me."

There was silence. He grabbed at Gran-Gran, "Where are you hiding him!? He's about this age, has mastered every element! Not an easy one to miss!"

He was talking about the Avatar! It was just as Aang had said, thought Katara. But where was he?

Fire stretched out, above the heads of everyone there, "Will anybody give me an answer?"

Sokka made another swing at him, but Zuko easily ducked and tossed him into the snow, before sending a fire ball straight at him. Sokka easily got up and away, tossing his best boomerang at the Fire Nation Prince, nearly, but not hitting him.

"Show no fear!" said a small boy, tossing Sokka a spear. There it was.

Easily enough though, Sokka was on the ground again, and the spear was in pieces. And then boomerang came back, hitting Zuko at the back of the head, to some annoyance, before he readied the flames in his hands.

"I've had enough of playing games!" said Zuko.

"Playing games? You're the one who came here with a deserted ship." said Sokka, "I mean really, trying to make your army look bigger?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, enraged.

"You know, that ship, right behind the main one. It has pretty much no one on it. In fact, there's only one person on it, and it's Aang- wait, what?" It was Aang, standing atop the antique Fire Nation ship!

"Tsk tsk tsk," said the airbender, "Friends don't fight each other! You two will never learn, will you?"

"Friends! We're _not_ friends!" said Sokka, not sure why he was approaching the conversation at such an angle, "We don't even know each other!"

"Still no reason to fight." said Aang, "Can't we all start out as friends?"

"This isn't for you to get involved in!" shouted the prince.

"Do you know who I am?" asked Aang, calmly.

"I know that I don't care." said Zuko.

"Really?" asked Aang, making a jump from the abandoned ship all the way in front of Zuko, "How about now?"

"You're a-" started Zuko, "You're the last airbender! You're.. the Avatar! But you're just a kid!"

"I've been working on that, okay? Avatars can't always be fully grown! We go through cycles, and phases and stuff like that."

What were they talking about? Aang couldn't be the... of course he was the Avatar! He didn't say anything, but it made more and more sense to Katara as she thought about it. She was broken out of thought by the sound of the Fire prince firebending straight at Aang.

"Really? That's how you treat your Avatar? Not even a hug?" he taunted, avoiding everything Zuko had to throw at him, "Really, what are you, the Fire Lord's court jester?"

"I. AM. THE. CROWN. PRINCE. OF THE FIRE NATION! PRINCE. ZUKO!"

"You are someone who needs to relax some time, maybe head home." Aang paused, "Maybe you'd get a nice vacation if I came with you, helped with negotiations."

"Is this some sort of joke?"

"Well now that I think about it, I _do_ have plans. So as much as I'd love to give your nation's government a piece of my mind (genocide of my people, really?), it will have to wait. So yeah, by the decree of my.. Avatar stuff, you will leave the South Pole now, or I will never let you leave. Seems fair."

This proposition was met with opposition. Physically. By Zuko punching Aang and repeatedly kicking him in the face as he fell. Aang got up easily enough though.

"Really, you need a hug. Now come on Zuko, hug me. Okay, or firebend me. Okay, that hurts." He was totally engulfed in flame at this point, propelled to be hovering over the sea. And then Zuko withdrew, letting him fall to the ocean below.

"Aang!" cried out Katara, as Sokka held her back. She had seen an airbender. She had seen the Avatar. Now what though? It seemed there was no hope.

"Go fish him out." said Zuko to his guards.

"No, I'm fine." said Aang, jumping out of the water, unscathed, except for a small burn on his stomach, "A bit of scarring there. I'll have to be more careful next time- hey what's the big idea!" he airbended away few balls of flame heading towards him. "So, you know why I brought this big hunk of metal over here?" He indicated the abandoned ship that was somehow afloat.

"Does it matter?" asked Zuko.

"It's an example," said Aang, who in a second was back on top of it, "Of what will happen, if you don't leave here now."

What happened next, Katara and Sokka could hardly believe that they saw.

He flew up with his glider, took another giant leap into the air, folded it back into a staff, and let it come down, sending a crashing gust of wind that went right through the Fire Nation ship. It was sliced clean into two pieces, and began to sink under the sea.

"Be happy I didn't do that to your ship. And go." he said, as if he had not just used airbending for what no one had thought airbending, or any other bending art capable to do. The Avatar, in one swing, had cut metal in half. Suddenly the stances of Prince Zuko's crewmen turned from ready to afraid. Afraid of a twelve-year-old bald boy. But the Fire Prince was not nearly impressed as he should have been.

"Not. Without. You." said Zuko, shocking his horrified crew, stepping forward to firebend at Aang. "There is nowhere to go, without you."

"Oh my." said Aang, "I didn't realize you felt this way about me. Well, if you say so, let's do this." he jumped onto the ship, "Bye Katara, Sokka!" then he turned to a crewman, "This won't take too long, will it?" The man just slowly walked away.

"Aang, no!" yelled Katara, "What are you... do something!"

"Airbend them!" shouted Sokka, "You have no battle smarts, do you?"

"Do you really want them to stay here?" was the last thing Aang yelled before being dragged away as the ship sailed off.

And then he was gone. The firebenders too, but Aang was gone. The last airbender. The Avatar. And a lot of hope.

* * *

"Go. Fly. Soar." Sokka attempted, halfheartedly, to place Appa into the air. The siblings had agreed that they would go to save their new friend, or as Sokka called him, Katara's boyfriend.

"Please, Appa, you know Aang needs us to save him!" What could the beast understand, she wondered.

"Aang even said this thing couldn't fly!" said Sokka, thinking that they could just find away to run after the ship, or maybe just get Appa to swim again.

"Well I remember him specifically stating that they could!"

"How did he get it to swim? What'd he say? Yee-haw? Hup-hup? Wah-hoo? Bang-bang? Uh.. yip-yip?"

And Sokka might have been a professed disliker of magic, but deep down, that moment of soaring on the air on the top of a gigantic mammal, felt pretty magical.

* * *

This Avatar was nothing like Zuko had expected. Looking back at how he had been behaving lately, Zuko could hardly believe he even had gotten this far at his first meeting with the Avatar. Clearly, he had an authority permeating to even the spirit of the world."What ever happened to your plans?" he asked Aang, who was lying down in his cell.

"They're still on." said Aang, "I'm on the ship with you, but you see, I'm not going home with you."

"Why's that?"

"Heroes." he said, "Everyone wants to be one. You want to be one. And you can be one if you want."

"Sir!" a soldier came down to see Zuko, "Up on the deck!"

The deck of the Fire Nation ship had come to match its surroundings: a frozen wasteland inhabited by a teenage girl and her brother. At this point, Katara had frozen everything and everyone around her, including Sokka and Appa.

That was when Aang came up with his staff, followed by Zuko.

"Thanks for coming to rescue me, let's go!"

He bumped his staff against Sokka and Appa, the ice around them melting, and then got onto his Sky Bison, "Well, let's go on an adventure! Or back home, whichever."

They had to dodge a few fireballs, but they made it back alright and without being followed by the Fire Nation ship. Because as determined as Zuko was , his crew was not willing to go back to that village.

"It's no matter." said the Prince. "The Avatar can't stay in the South Pole forever. Seems he only knows airbending. And even if he learns waterbending there, he needs an earthbender. And what he learns is irrelevant if he can't use it... we will dock." he decided, "The news of the Avatar's return will spread to some location. And then the whole world will be able to find him. But not until after I have."

"Prince Zuko," said his uncle, who had witnessed and tried to prevent the pitifully easy breakout, "It is good that you are planning. But remember to pace yourself. Remember what that boy has shown to you already."

"Yes, Uncle Iroh." he said, "I know. I can't go about this too easily. I will have to plan." But Zuko was ready. Zuko was getting his honor back.

* * *

"So you're allowed to go on a journey with me, are you?" said Aang, as they flew through the air on Appa's back.

"Gran-Gran said our destinies lie with you." answered Katara, who was still thinking back at that, taking in that her fate was mixed with that of the world's.

"You _are_ going to stop the war, right?" asked Sokka, "Some airbending slice in there, right?"

"I'm just a kid." said Aang, "Kids play. Grown ups end wars. And start them, but we don't need any of that right now."

"You're more than a kid though you're... why didn't you tell us?" Why didn't he tell them? Did he not trust them? Except, he told them the truth. He wasn't afraid to let them know he was the Avatar, he just chose not to.

"It's a tough thing to have to remember." said Aang, "It's nice getting to be a normal kid. To be back in a place where everything makes sense." And then he brought out a map, "Now, vacation planning, we'll stop... here to ride on hopping llamas, here for hog monkeys, and.. we'll do the giant koi fish right here. And at some point we'll find that North Pole and get Katara a waterbending master."

"And you too!" said Katara.

"Right. I'll need to.. learn waterbending." he absently moved his fingers with the tides below.

"You'll probably do a lot better than me." he _should_, she thought, as it wasn't _her_ waterbending that would decide the fate of all they loved.

"Don't be hard on yourself." he said, "I'm sure you'll be great."

"Wow.." Katara said, looking down, "Sokka, come on!"

They watched as the icy environment of the South Pole disappeared, dashing away, behind them, as Appa flew them north, as the bare sea showed itself to them. And the ice was gone. Home was gone.

And Katara was fine. She was excited that she was going to learn. Happy. She was going out into the world. A world at war, but the world nonetheless. And she was going to make it a lot better, she decided there, and she was going to make sure that Aang did the same.

And as Sokka flew off, on top of the flying bison, with the airbender, who was the spirit of their planet, to go and face a world war, hunted down by a banished prince, he looked back to when his life felt more like his own. He was afraid of what would lie ahead. But like he had taught the kids, and how they had taught him, he could not show it.

And that began their journey with a young man like no other.

* * *

**End Chapter 2**

**Thoughts, anyone? Of course, not sure how much one can ask for feedback when all of their material seems to be based around the idea of not letting the reader know what's going on. Interesting habit of mine.**


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